TOC H COMES OF AGE.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 26, Issue 9, 1 September 1936, Page 6

TOC H COMES OF AGE.

On the evening of June 22nd a great service of dedication was held m the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. "We meet together to celebrate the coming-of-age of Toe H and to dedicate ourselves to the new duties and opportunities which our growth m experience and strength present to us. "And no place is more fit to receive this our consecration and to send it out again with new faith and hope on its worldwide mission than this great church. "Our first thoughts then will be of God's greatness and glory, of our own littleness and sins, and of the need of His grace. "And finally, with trembling awe and loving admiration, steadfastly set before ourselves the uttermost of God's demands, and how the One, True, Perfect Offering fulfilled them. "May that Vision dwell m our hearts to purify, kindle and ennoble •them." "We are on duty m the Court of God." These were the thoughts which served for a reverent preparation of the vast multitude of worshippers. An order of service of great beauty had been prepared, and every word meant something. The first part was preparation by Praise, Humility, Penitence, and Prayer. The second part was a setting forth of Duty and a summons to perform it. This was taken by the Archbishop of York, a President of Toe H. The third part was the act of dedication and a renewal of the pledge. To think fairly, to love widely, to witness humbly and to build bravely. Then followed the intoning of the Passion of our Lord according to St. Matthew by various voices under the dome, the whole congregation standing erect, with bowed heads, and at the words, "Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost," everyone, without exception, knelt down, and for a few moments the Cathedral was hushed m solemn silence. THE ARCHBISHOP'S ORATION. "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his

cross and follow Me." This, said the Archbishop of York, was an appropriate thought for those who desired to get back to the foundation of their pledge, renewing it and making it a little more real m their life and actions. The demand of Christ to His followers was a perpetual one of self-surrender and self-dedication. Toe H was born m a fellowship of death, and it handed on to successive generations, irrespective of rank, a bond of union m a common endurance, a common hope, and a common allegiance to the Captain of their destinies. It comes of age as a movement of youth, to whom the older men have handed on the torch. To those older generations the Archbishop said: "Don't be anxious about the leadership of those younger men." God could, and would, guide those younger brethren as He guided the men of- old. To the younger men be said: "Try and capture the spirit of the founders of the movement, and let them remember they were not wiser than their elders. Their common hope and common allegiance must be focussed"on worship, and if acts of service were allowed to take its place, Toe H would lose its distinctive qualities, and would not accomplish that which it had set itself to do." The concluding part of this impressive service was "The Dismissal," said by the Rev. P. B. Clayton, from the choir: May the King of kings, Lord of lords, rule our hearts and guide our ways, hallow our service, and strengthen our resolve, and so let us depart. In the Name of Christ our Lord. And the four thousand delegates of Toe H dispersed to their homes and billets.